ISSUE NO. 46

A July Issue

In an inventive economy, value isn’t just created through products or services, but through ideas, storytelling, and connection.

Emotional intelligence becomes the engine behind that creativity: it helps people read the room, feel cultural undercurrents, and design experiences that resonate on a human level.

The more emotionally attuned we are, the better we become at anticipating needs, building trust, and imagining what doesn’t yet exist.

ARCHITECTURALLY CURIOUS

A Quiet Threshold

At first glance, the stairwell feels simple—poured concrete, a single rail, no distractions. But it’s doing something more: pulling you upward, inviting you out of the compressed base of the home and into light. It’s a transition space, designed with restraint so your senses tune into the shift. Every step moves you closer to the heart of the house.

Centered by Light

In the middle of the home, an open space anchors everything. Natural light floods in from above, bouncing off textured concrete and warm wood. This central atrium keeps the house cool, lets air circulate, and connects all the surrounding rooms. It’s the calm core of an otherwise dense, urban home in the heart of Barcelona.

A City House That Breathes

The house feels surprisingly calm. It pulls from old Mediterranean courtyard traditions—tall ceilings, raw materials, and open layouts—to create a quiet, spacious vibe. Even with buildings all around, it somehow feels tucked away, like its own little world built around air, light, and rhythm.

GLOBAL GLIMPSE

A Parisian Landing

Right from the entrance, the apartment sets the tone with calm colors and bold forms. A sculptural chair from Uchronia’s collection anchors the hallway with playful curves, while a burnt orange rug adds warmth underfoot. Even in this quiet corridor, you feel the apartment’s design confidence. It’s simply showing you what it’s made of.

Garden to Counter

That sense of ease continues as you move into the kitchen, where interior and exterior begin to blur. Glossy enameled lava stone covers the island and cabinetry, catching reflections from the lush garden just beyond the open doors. Wave-like cutouts repeat subtly in the millwork, adding rhythm without noise. It’s a space that feels both precise and effortless, as if nature and design are speaking the same language.

A Room That Doesn’t Whisper

From there, the palette shifts and the energy builds. In the lounge, a zebra-print sofa sprawls confidently across the room, grounding the space with texture and curve. Pastel accents—like the petal-shaped table in pink and lilac—add a layer of playfulness, while scalloped trim details wrap the room in quiet movement. It’s a space that doesn’t shy away from personality—and somehow, it all just clicks.

VISUAL COMFORT

Inventive Economy

At first glance, this chair might look like a DIY experiment—but every part is intentional. Made from discarded cardboard tubes and tied together with leftover red rope, the Paper Tube Chair reimagines waste as structure.

The design team at Dhammada Collective didn’t try to copy something iconic—they let the materials guide the form. Rope tension, not glue, holds the frame together, making each part replaceable and responsive to pressure. There’s a quiet genius in how the seat invites play, repair, and reuse all at once.

Function Hidden in Plain Sight

The chair isn’t just sustainable—it’s clever. Each hollow tube doubles as storage, offering spots to stash notebooks, pencils, or glasses. Red lashing isn’t just decorative—it strengthens the chair through figure-eight tensioning, allowing flexibility where cardboard usually fails.

Even the wear points were solved with custom 3D-printed pieces, proving that innovation doesn’t need fancy materials—just curiosity and care. This is what Dhammada calls a practice in resourceful generosity—a design born from constraint, not compromise.

MUSICAL INTERLUDE

What I'm Listening to in July

In short, emotional intelligence isn’t just a soft skill—it’s a strategic one in a world where innovation depends on empathy—I’ll see you next week, my friend.

Warmly,
/shane